


The Second Day

by TransBoyFanBoy



Series: Those Nights [12]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flashback Story, Fluff, M/M, Non-Sexual Age Play, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Panic Attacks, Thumb-sucking, Wetting, eventual dxlb, part of a series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:27:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28572252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TransBoyFanBoy/pseuds/TransBoyFanBoy
Summary: Midterms can be tough for anyone, especially when you forget to study.-or-A mistake blossoms into a relationship.
Relationships: Future Original Male Character/Original Male Character, Jackson Brewer & Nathan Hall, Original Male Character & Original Male Character
Series: Those Nights [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/766590
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	The Second Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, long time no see! It's been a very long time since I've last written as I have been busy with college and life stuff, but I finally found some time and motivation to update something. I hope you all enjoy this flashback installment.
> 
> (NOTE: In case I need to say this, I did not come up with the quadratic formula song. I do highly recommend checking it out on youtube though, for any algebra II students)

Jackson's POV:

Walking into the halls of Wisteria View High School would never get less painful.

After I had slammed the car door in one last act of defiance this morning, Julian had practically dragged me to the front doors of my own personal Hell and shoved me through them. With a faux-sympathetic pat on the back, he quickly left to go find his buddies. Defeated, I shuffled over to my usual morning spot on the hall benches and plopped down unenthusiastically.

I checked my phone to see that my friends had once again decided to meet up at the café across the street. Sometimes I wished that they would think to take me along, but I understand better than anyone else that I am not a morning person whatsoever and would be a café Grinch if they had brought me with. Sighing to myself, I scrolled through social media for a while to pass the time. I glanced around at the students wandering the halls around me and noticed that it seemed quieter than usual. I shrugged it off, going back to my phone for a few minutes before someone settled their stuff at my feet and scooted into my personal space. 

I looked up to give this person a piece of my mind only to find that Nathan was sitting beside me, happily biting into what appeared to be a chocolate muffin. He turned to me with a smile as he finished off the muffin, and I didn't have it in me to be annoyed at the invasion of my space. 

"Good morning, Jackson!" Nathan exclaimed cheerily, to which I grunted out something that sounded like a 'good morning' back. Reaching into his bag, Nathan then pulled out an energy bar and a water bottle, offering them to me. "Here, you seem like you could use these." He smiled as I looked at the offered items for a moment before taking them with a slight nod. 

"Thank you, that was nice of you." Nathan just waved me off nonchalantly and turned back to his bag to shove the muffin wrapper into one of the pockets. He had been doing this a lot lately: bringing me snacks, making sure I was eating properly, telling me to stay hydrated. Hell, one morning we got breakfast together in the cafeteria, and he had wiped jelly off of my face with a napkin. It had made me flush with embarrassment, and even as I think about it now, I can feel my cheeks heat up. Thankfully, I had kept a strong grasp on my adult mindset at the time, but it had gotten me wondering about him. "Can I ask you a question?" I had spoken the words before I had a chance to think them through.

"Yeah of course. What's up?"

I made sure to think through my next words carefully. "You've been looking out for me a lot since I met you: bringing me food and water, cheering me up when I'm in a bad mood... wiping my face when it's messy. I guess I've just been wondering why?"

Clearly, he had not been expecting that question. He looked taken aback for a moment, and then his face flushed with a tinge of unmistakable redness. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't even realize I was doing it that much." He looked sheepish, and I suddenly felt awful. I backtracked as quickly as my lips would let me.

"No no no, I'm not mad about it at all! There's no need to apologize. As I said, I was just curious as to why." Nathan looked to be considering something for a moment before he sighed and shook his head. 

"Well, I guess the easiest way to put it is that I am a natural caregiver." My own face warmed at my brain's associations, but I said nothing. He continued, "As far back as I can remember, I've wanted to take care of the people around me. Being an only child whose parents are constantly away on business has made it hard for me to do that. I guess it must come out when I'm with my friends and I don't even realize." He looked troubled for a minute, then shook his head in a way that I could only describe as a 'what have I got to lose?' head shake. He looked up at me again, considering me for a second before speaking. "Can I tell you something?" Nervously, I nodded my head. 

"Of course. Go ahead." 

"I don't know if you've ever heard of this thing called age regression, but basically it's where an adult mentally reverts back to childhood for a period of time as a way to relax and be free of adult stressors. A lot of people regress from trauma or for mental health reasons, and others do it simply because they enjoy it." He smiles fondly to himself. "This may sound weird, but I am so interested in age regression from a caregiving standpoint. Ever since my friends introduced me to the idea a couple years back and I got to babysit for one of them a handful of times in sophomore year, I have known that it's something I want for my life. Children are adorable, and I would want to have them someday don't get me wrong, but regression is something special. I feel like it must be so rewarding to be able to take care of someone I love on such a deep level and to give them a second chance at a nice childhood. It's such a monumental display of trust for someone to allow you to look after them in a vulnerable mindset like that--to let them be your caretaker, you know? Well you probably don't know, but what I'm trying to say is that I would love to have the opportunity to be that for someone someday." After his rambling has finished, Nathan seems to realize how deep into it he got; he looks embarrassed, but at the same time he has a certain happy glow about him. 

I went rod still with tension, unable to comprehend that he had just so openly talked about one of my biggest secrets, especially in such a positive light. Careful not to let my own secret slip, I nodded stiffly. He must have taken my silence as a bad thing, because his expression became flooded with shame that made my heart hurt. In an attempt to show my support, I put a hesitant hand on his shoulder. 

"That sounds really fulfilling, Nathan. I hope you get that experience someday." He met my eyes, relaxing at the kind words. He nodded.

"Me too. And I'll try to cut back on the mother-henning with you, too." 

"Oh that's okay, I don't mind it." I didn't say just how much I really _don't_ mind it no matter how much I wanted to. He nodded again.

There was a lull in conversation for a while, so to fill the silence I opened the packaging of the protein bar Nathan had offered me.

"So," he began, "Are you ready for your midterms?" I looked over at him with furrowed brows, taking a bite of the energy bar. I waited until I had swallowed the bite before replying. 

"I mean not yet? We've still got a week to study, so I planned to go over everything this week." At this, Nathan gave me a concerned look. "What, what's wrong?" He looked hesitant to say anything for a moment. I took another bite from the protein bar.

"Jackson, midterms start today." 

Immediately swallowing a chunk of the bar down the wrong way, I coughed violently and shook my head in denial. Nathan patted my back to help with the choking, then rubbed a couple of circles on it once I seemed to be under control again.

"No they don't. Midterms aren't until the week of the twelfth!" I said emphatically, looking at Nathan for confirmation.

"Jackson, _today_ is the twelfth. We start taking our exams today." At that, I checked my phone in hopes that he was joking. When my phone screen confirmed that it actually was the twelfth, I felt a lump rise in the back of my throat. I had to shove down the urge to cry. Taking a moment to compose myself, I brought a shaking hand up to my head and scrubbed it down my face. "I'm sorry, Jackson. It'll be alright though, right? You're super smart." 

I shook my head bitterly. "I'm only smart when I study. Screwed is what I am now. I can't believe I forgot." Despite myself, I let out a huffed laugh. I glanced at my phone once more; checking the time, I saw that I still had about thirty minutes before class started. Mind made up, I pulled out the notebook for my first period class and opened it up, fully intending to cram all of the information into my brain in the time I had left. 

"Jackson, it's going to be alright. And even if it's not, I'm still sure you can pass your classes. You're an amazing student. Either way, I'll be here as a shoulder to cry on or as a listening ear when you're excited about passing." Briefly, I noticed that he said 'when' and not 'if' in reference to me passing, but I didn't focus too long on it--not enough time. 

Opening the textbook to a random page, I started reading over the words carefully. The stress of not having enough time to remember anything, though, made the words on the page even harder to memorize. After reading over the same sentence four separate times and still not understanding it, I groaned in frustration and put my head down. Frustrated tears once again began to make their way to my eyes, but I fought not to let them out in front of Nathan, who was looking at me with a clearly helpless expression. 

"Hey," he spoke up, "Why don't you let me help you study really quick? I'll try to form your notes into questions, and you can see if you can answer them. That sound okay?" I nodded desperately. "And remember: we have art first. Art doesn't have a midterm. I can help you study in her class as long as we're not doing anything." At that, I felt immense relief wash over me. I nodded again. Plucking the notebook from my hands, he did a quick once-over of the page. After a few moments, he nodded. "Okay, let's try this. Since we're starting with Algebra II, first I want you to recite for me the quadratic formula song." I looked at him with a pleading look, not wanting to subject myself to the humiliation of singing that song in a public space. He gave me a borderline stern eyebrow raise and head tilt, making it clear I wasn't going to get around it. At any other time, that look probably would have had me plummeting into headspace, but at that moment the only thoughts in my mind were, _'math song, remember math, sing song, remember math'_. Taking a final moment to mourn my dignity, I opened my mouth and sang the song. 

"X equals negative b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus four ac, all over two a." At the end, I was teeming with humiliation, but Nathan looked happy enough so I got over it. 

"Good job, Jackson. Next up: two cars are traveling in the same direction along a highway..." We continued on like this for a while, with me taking out a scratch sheet of paper to work out problems and Nathan being an actual angel, until the bell rang to signal a five minute warning before class. 

After I gathered my stuff into my backpack, we walked side by side to our art class. By some miracle, the assignment for the day was an optional portrait assignment, which Nathan and I skipped in favor of studying some more. I did feel bad that I was taking him away from doing his own thing, but he assured me that helping me study was also helping him remember things.

By the time our math class came along, I was feeling confident enough in my ability to pass. However, I pretty much immediately realized after the test that I hadn't left time to study for my physics exam. I looked over to Nathan, who was doodling on a scratch paper and smiled worriedly at him. His brows pinched in question, but I shook my head and turned back to my desk. I would have taken the time to study at that moment, but our teacher had made us put our bags against the wall at the beginning of class to prevent cheating. I wiped a tear from my eye and kept my eyes on the desk. 

After far too long, the bell rang and signaled the end of class. I was once again getting worked up about not having studied for physics. Nathan could definitely tell something was wrong, but I was grateful that he decided not to comment on it; at that point, one wrong word would have me in a ball on the floor, weeping to myself. We walked to the physics classroom together and sat down in desks right beside each other. The testing privacy shields were set up on each desk, which I was thankful for as I didn't want anyone to see me losing control of my emotions during the test.

After a brief introduction to the test, our teacher handed out the packets and let us get to work. I put my name at the top, but as soon as I looked at the first question, I lost it. I searched the packet for questions I did know the answers to in order to keep myself from breaking down here, but with a majority of the questions still unanswered after that, I started to accept my defeat. For the remaining questions, I tried to narrow it down to two probable answers (thank god it was multiple choice), then took to using the "eeny, meeny, miny, mo" method to select my answers. By the time I raised my hand to turn in the test, I started to understand how screwed I was. I finished way too quickly to have gotten a good grade, I realized as I looked around the room to see only one other person finished. Sitting there with my head in my hands, I could start to hear a few other tests be handed in around me. A few stray tears managed to escape and fell down my cheeks and onto my desk. I sniffled, my nose running as a side effect of my tears. I tried to stop the waterworks from coming, but it was no use. The more I tried to calm down, the more worked up I got. A hand reached over to touch my shoulder, and I looked up to find Nathan looking at me with a sad smile. He mouthed something to me, but my eyes were blurring too much for me to tell what it was. I was sure it was some kind gesture, which made me even more emotional. With testing done for the moment, I could really feel how close I was to my headspace. I needed to get out before anything bad happened.

I raised my hand to be excused, and though the physics teacher normally doesn't allow students to leave during tests, he took one look at me and let me go. I ran out of the room and into the hall, searching for the nearest bathroom to lock myself in. 

* * *

Nathan's POV:

Seeing Jackson rush out of the room with tears streaming down his face made my heart ache. Without thinking, I raised my hand and gestured to the door, intending to follow Jackson and make sure he was alright. The teacher must have seen the worry on my face, as he let me go with no hesitation. I stood from my seat and walked calmly to the door so as not to look odd to the rest of my classmates, but as soon as the door shut behind me with a heavy click, I was scrambling to see where Jackson had gone.

Wandering the halls quickly and keeping an eye out for any signs of him, I heard a pitiful whimpering coming from the men's restroom down the hall. Figuring that was a safe bet, I made my way past the full classrooms and into the restroom speedily. The crying got louder once I was in the bathroom, and by now I could tell that it was undoubtedly Jackson. I glanced under the stall doors to see which the crying was coming from, only to find that he had crammed himself into one of the small stalls. I knocked on the door, but to my surprise it gave way under my knuckles. He hadn't locked it. 

Slowly, so as not to freak Jackson out, I pushed the door open and walked in with what I hoped was a calm smile on my face. One look at him curled up as much as he could be on the toilet seat and my mind went into autopilot. He was definitely spiraling into panic, and I knew I needed to move forward carefully. Closing and locking the stall door behind me, I crouched in front of him on the ground. His sobs stuttered in pace as he struggled to take breaths in, and he looked at me briefly through wet eyes. 

"Hey Jackson. I won't try to touch you, but can you try to take some deep breaths with me? You look like you're having a hard time getting air in. Can you try to match my breathing?" He nodded jerkily, and I threw him a proud smile. "Okay, good boy." I cringed at myself as I let the word slip, but he was either too gone to notice or didn't care. "Deep breath in." I breathed in slowly, waiting for him to do the same. It took a few seconds before he was able to comply, but once he did I gave an encouraging smile. "Good job. Now hold it for a few seconds." He did the best he could with that, and soon I instructed him to let the breath out. We continued this pattern for a while before his breathing was under control again. He still had tears flowing at a steady pace, but he was no longer hyperventilating. 

Jackson reached out to me with a shaking hand, and I gradually lifted my hand up to meet his, giving him time to pull away if he wanted to. Instead, he latched on to my hand, pulling it close to him with a whine. If he weren't so upset, I may have found the action unbearably endearing; as it was, I couldn't stop the little flutter in my chest at the sweet action. I stood from my crouched position and moved closer to Jackson so that he wasn't stretching my arm as far, and he looked up at me quietly. Without a word, he let go of my hand and held out his arms for a hug. I wasted no time pulling him up from the toilet seat and into my chest, wrapping him up securely in my arms. I felt Jackson's body go limp in my arms, as if he was about to fall to the floor without my support, so I hoisted him up by his armpits and hooked an arm under his thighs, supporting his but with one hand and the other going to rest on his back as I held him against my chest. I noted a distinct dampness under my hand and made a sympathetic noise for Jackson. 

First thing first: get out of this cramped stall. Rubbing Jackson's back in soothing circles, I quietly said, "I'm gonna move us into a bigger stall real quick, Jackson. Is that okay with you?" He nodded into my shoulder, so I turned, unlocked the stall door and opened it with one hand, then moved to the handicap stall at the end of the room. Once there, I again locked the door. Then, I sat myself down on the floor with Jackson in my lap. I petted his hair and rocked back and forth in a comforting gesture, hoping it would help Jackson. For a few moments, I let us sit in silence as Jackson calms a bit more.

"Now, what happened Jacks?" Jackson looked up at me sadly, starting to get worked up again. To calm him, I patted his back and shushed him. In the back of my mind, I was worried that this was crossing a line. I had told Jackson about my caregiving tendencies, but I didn't want to overstep when he didn't want me to. However, the action seemed to placate him for the time being, and he had calmed enough to speak. 

"Didn' study for my test and didn' know anythin' on it! Scared 'm gonna fail." His tone was high-pitched and distressed, and the telltale slurring of his words reminded me just a bit too much of that friend I babysat for the previous year. Saying nothing about it for now, I went back to rubbing his back. 

"I know it can be scary to feel like you failed, Jacks, but I am ninety-nine percent positive that you did just fine." He seemed like he wanted to interject, but I stopped him in his tracks. "Have you failed a test yet?" After a pause he shook his head. "That's right. You've passed all of your tests so far, even when you think you're going to fail them. I think you're going to have done just fine on them, bud. But like I said earlier, even if you don't, I'm going to be here for you. There's nothing to worry about, and stressing is just gonna make you feel bad, isn't it?" 

"Uh huh." 

"Exactly. So let's wait for the results to come back and we'll see where to go from there. Sound good?" Jackson nodded in affirmation. 

Again, we let the conversation lull into silence as we sat there. I felt Jackson move his arm from where it was hanging at his side. Looking down, I saw that he had in fact moved it: right up to his face. His thumb was now firmly planted in his mouth, suckling away contently at the digit as he rested in my lap. At this point, there was no doubt in my mind that this was exactly what I had suspected. I was a little sad that he hadn't felt comfortable enough to be open with me about it when I had mentioned it earlier, but I also understood that this was a very private, personal thing. Then, I just felt bad for intruding on this private part of him without his permission. 

"So Jacks, I'm gonna tell you what I think is going on, and I would like it if you could answer me honestly about if I'm correct, alright?" Jackson nodded into my shoulder, giving me the go ahead. I continued, "You're an age regressor, and you are feeling small right now." He tensed in my arms, but eventually must have decided that the jig was up. He spoke softly into my shirt.

"Mhm, you're right." I nodded, getting the confirmation I needed. I could feel the warmth coming from his face and seeping into my shirt, but I didn't comment on it so as not to embarrass him further. I did, however, push him back to meet my eyes again. 

"And that's perfectly alright, Jacky. I already told you earlier that I'm interested in caretaking, right?" He nodded. "Right. So I've got no room to judge you, sweet boy. I won't ever judge for this." With that assurance, his face faded back to normal color and he rested his head on me once more.

Now that his breathing had slowed down and his tears looked to be drying up, I figured it was probably best to get his face cleaned up. 

Reaching over, I ripped a piece of toilet paper from the dispenser. I guided Jackson away from my shoulder, to which I received a keening whine. I shushed him quietly. "Shh, it's alright. I've just got to clean your face up a little so you're not all sticky." He let me wipe his nose and cheeks with the cheap material, flinching back at the texture. 

"Scratchy!" He whined. 

"I know, I know. It doesn't feel very good, does it little buddy? I'm sorry." He grumbles out an acceptance and lets me finish cleaning up his face. He gets a little squirmy on my lap, putting his thumb back in his mouth.

Speaking of cleaning up... 

I sighed, knowing there was no way to keep the peaceful atmosphere we had settled into. 

"Hey Jacks, I need you to stand up for me buddy. We gotta get you cleaned up." He looked at me with a sweet little pout.

"Already cleaned up." He said with a frown. I felt so bad for him, knowing that having to tell him this was going to upset him once again. 

"I did clean your face, yes, buddy. But I think you had a little accident while you were in the middle of that panic attack." I stated quietly. Abruptly, he looked down as if he were just then noticing it. His lip wobbled treacherously, and he looked up at me on the verge of tears again. 

" 'm sorry, got you all dirty." His breath hitched as if he was about to start sobbing again, so I shushed him quickly and rocked him back and forth in my lap once again. 

"Hey hey, it's fine. All that matters to me is that you're comfortable and safe. This is an easy fix, I promise. We'll get it sorted out." He nodded doubtfully but let me stand him up and place him on the toilet seat with his clothes still on. 

I checked the time on my phone only to realize that it was getting pretty close to my lunch time. Thankfully, Jackson had chosen a bathroom away from the cafeteria, so it probably wouldn't be flooded with students when the bell rang, but I know he had club class to go to during my lunch time. Hopefully we could get this done quickly and with as little fanfare as possible. 

"Okay Jacks, is there anyone we can call to bring you some spare stuff?" He nodded, pulling out his phone and unlocking it. After a few moments, he handed it to me with a contact pulled up: Noah Brewer. "Is this your dad?" He shook his head.

"My big brother." Oh. Well, okay. I pressed the dial button, and within a few moments someone had picked up. 

**_"Hello? Jackson, what's wrong?"_ **

"Hi, is this Noah?" There was a pause on the other line.

**_"Yes this is, who am I speaking with and why do you have my brother's phone?"_ **

"My name is Nathan, I'm Jackson's friend from school."

**_"Oh, he's told me about you. Is something wrong with Jackson?"_ **

"Well, not exactly. He's uh... well, he's in a vulnerable place right now and he needs some spare clothes if you're anywhere close by." Another long pause.

_**"...Do you know?"** _

"I know something, but I can't say what it is because it might not be what you know."

_**"Well I'm getting strong vibes that you and I know the same thing."** _

"I mean, I might know the same thing as you, but who's to say? Are you able to bring the spare clothes by the school? Otherwise, I'm gonna have to get the nurse's help, and I have a feeling that Jackson does not want that."

**_"Yeah, I'm not too far away from our house and the school. I'll be there in like ten minutes. Just keep him calm until I get there."_ **

"Already on it. Thank you, Noah."

_**"Of course."** _

I hung up the phone and turned my attention back to Jackson, who had taken to fiddling with the toilet paper dispenser. As soon as he tried to reach up to put a finger in his mouth again, I quickly dragged it away. He whimpered at that, but I quieted him easily enough. 

"That dispenser is yucky, buddy. If you put your fingers in your mouth after touching it, you'd get all kinds of nasty germs in your mouth, and you would get sicky. That wouldn't be any good, now would it?" He shook his head slightly, though with a frown on his face. "Don't worry, your brother will be here with some stuff really soon." I didn't mention that I had no clue how he would get into the building. It was pretty obvious he wasn't a student at our school. Oh well, we'd cross that bridge when we got to it.

Eventually, Jackson's phone pinged with a text from Noah stating that he was going through the front office and sweet-talking the lady at the front desk to come in and eat lunch with Jackson. In the back of my mind, I thought it would never work, but then his phone pinged with another message. 

_**Noah:** I'm in. Where are you guys?_

_**You:** We're in the men's restroom over in the science wing, by the physics rooms_

_**Noah:**_ On my way

Less than five minutes later, I heard the restroom door open and a throat clear. 

"Uh, it's Noah." Noah stated awkwardly.

I unlocked the stall door and let Noah come through. Upon laying eyes on Jackson, he rushed over and kneeled at his side, placing a hand on his knee. 

"Hey little man, Bubby brought you some new clothes, some cleanup supplies, and a little lunch. Why don't you get changed and then I'll eat with you?" At this point, Jackson latched on to Noah, nodding obediently. "You got it on your own?" Another nod from Jackson. "Okay, we'll leave you to it. Shout if you need anything."

From there, Noah guided me out of the stall and over to the sinks. Shuffling was heard as Jackson apparently cleaned himself up, and Noah looked at me with a grateful smile. 

"Thank you for watching over him. I know now that we're on the same page with what we know, and I wanted to say thanks for not freaking out about it." I gave him a lopsided smile.

"Of course, it's no problem. I actually have known about this and been interested for a while now, so no judgement from me." Noah just nodded acceptingly. 

Soon, Jackson came out of the stall wearing fresh pants (that were thankfully the same style). He was holding a bag full of the dirty clothes, which Noah took and stuffed into a backpack on his back. Jackson smiled sheepishly, seeming to have aged up some. 

"Thank you, Noah."

"Anytime, little bro."

"And thank you, Nathan. You really didn't have to help me out, but I am glad that you did." I smiled brightly at him.

"No need to thank me. You're welcome anytime." I looked at my phone to see that it was now getting towards the end of my lunch time and the beginning of Jackson's, so I told them we should probably get going. They nodded their heads. Noah walked ahead of us out of the bathroom, carrying the lunch he had brought for them to the cafeteria. We followed suit, but before we caught up with Noah I stopped and pulled Jackson aside for a moment. 

"So, on the off chance that this isn't completely overstepping, I just wanted to let you know that if you're ever interested in possibly pursuing a relationship with me in the future, I would be honored to give caretaking a shot with you as long as you'd have me." Jackson's cheeks lit up, but he had a soft smile on his face. It wasn't a secret that I had feelings for him. I'd let him know pretty early on that it was something I would be open to, but I wanted to give him space to think about it until he was sure one way or another. He hugged me quickly and nodded, promising to consider it. 

We went our separate ways after that, Jackson following Noah to the cafeteria to eat with him while I headed to my club activity. 

… 

Jackson and I met up after our respective lunches were over, and I was happy to find that he had studied for his other exams in the time we had left before the other classes. Since our last two classes of the day were different (I had American History and then P.E., while he had P.E. and then American History), we met up after school where I offered to drive Jackson home.

We greeted each other happily, and I led him out to my car. Once we were buckled in and I had pulled out of the parking lot, Jackson began to speak.

"I think I'd like to go on a date with you, if you're open to it. I like you a lot, and I'd like to see where this goes." My heart leapt in my chest at his softly spoken words. I beamed at him from behind the wheel.

"Of course I'm open to it. I'll text you later tonight and we can figure out the details."

"That sounds good." Jackson smiled, and I turned up the radio, sitting in a peaceful silence for the rest of the car ride. 

* * *

Jackson's POV:

That night, Nathan and I messaged back and forth to set the time and place for our date. We had both agreed on a trip to the dog park, since we wanted to have a place where we could enjoy ourselves but still be able to get to talk to each other. 

We had decided to keep the date secret from my family (other than Noah) for the moment, but I was too excited about the date to care about that. Throughout dinner I kept zoning out, looking forward to the date, and thinking back on the events of the day. I felt that I should have been more worried about Nathan knowing my secret, but I truly believed he was genuine in his promise not to tell anyone. 

That night, I laid in bed and let myself fantasize about where this first date could lead.


End file.
